Media paper 1

• Masthead


  • The title 'Pride' tells the audience how they are supposed to feel - encouraged to feel proud of themselves and the magazine is proud of them
  • The masthead is positioned behind the cover star's head, a common convention for lifestyle magazines to draw attention to the cover star as the most important part
• Strapline


  Celebrating 24 years at the top connotes that the magazine is successful and well-respected
• Colour palette


  • Mostly red and white, powerful and strong colours that may connote challenging gender ideas and appealing to strong women
• Cover star Naomi Harris


  • Confident, strong and powerful pose looking directly at the audience
  • Typical pose that draws attention to a woman's body and curves
• Many cover lines communicate the idea that appearances and bodies are important
• Cover lines


  • Unconventional in talking openly about how women's bodies are objectified, mocked and sexualised, suggesting the magazine takes a more political look at these issues
• The magazine uses the acronym FGM (female genital mutilation) suggesting the audience is educated on the issue
• The cover line about wigs appeals to a predominantly black female audience who commonly wear wigs, weaves or hairpieces
• Cover lines as enigma codes

  They are teasers to draw in the audience and encourage them to buy the magazine to read the full articles
• Choice of Naomi Harris as a black female cover star


  • Suggests the target audience are black women, and reflects the underrepresentation of black women in mainstream media
• Despite the magazine being about 'Pride' and featuring a black female cover star


  The cover line about the 'wig revolution' suggests the magazine still promotes Western ideals of beauty over more natural black hair
• Cover line 'How far would you go to be beautiful'


  Suggests the magazine still encourages women to change their appearance to be considered more beautiful, despite also critiquing the objectification of women's bodies
• Inclusive language


  • Use of 'we' and direct address 'how far would you go' engages the audience and makes them feel part of the magazine
• For a representation question, you need to compare the representations in this magazine to an unseen magazine, looking at how women, ethnicity, and bodies are represented
• Masthead


  The title or name of a magazine or newspaper at the top of the front page
• Gentleman's Quarterly


  The full name that the GQ masthead abbreviates to
• The masthead is partially obscured by the cover image
• Magazine masthead


  • It is recognizable even when partially covered up
  • It represents the cover star as being the most important thing as that is what sells the magazine
• Sans-serif font


  Adds to the feeling of the magazine being quite powerful, bold and masculine
• Raheem Sterling


  Famous footballer who has been involved in several world cups and euros, recognizable to an audience who enjoys football
• Raheem Sterling as cover star


  • Helps to target a mostly male audience
  • The fact that he is topless may engage male audiences who are gay
• Topless photos on male magazines help to sell the magazines as "sex sells"
• Spornosexual


  The increasing obsession with being very muscular and built, going to the gym a lot, an increasing pressure put on men in the media
• Raheem Sterling's body language and pose


  • Powerful and dominant
  • His legs are spread wide, arms down, head tilted up in a defiant, challenging pose
  • Creates a very dominant, powerful, masculine image
• Leather trousers


  Signifies something rebellious, aggressive, and sexy
• Religious imagery


  • Black wings making him seem powerful and holy
  • The word "guardian angel" as the main cover line emphasizes and anchors this representation of him being a powerful, almighty figure to look up to and worship
  • His tattoos with religious imagery like a cross add to this representation
• Cover line "Raheem Sterling saving football"


  Represents him as a savior, protagonist, hero
• It is fairly typical to represent black men in positions of being quite aggressive and dominant, often in a negative fashion, whereas Raheem Sterling is shown in a very positive way
• This may be reflective of a more modern context, targeting a reasonably diverse, contemporary male audience
• Color palette


  • Black, white, and gold - powerful, masculine, adds a sense of wealth, branding, and success
• Serif font for main cover line

  Makes him seem sophisticated and dramatic
• The magazine includes both lifestyle/fashion content and world news/political content
• Use of direct address "use"


  Makes the reader feel involved
• Enigmatic cover line about a "dictatorship"

  Makes the reader curious to find out more
• Cover line about Machine Gun Kelly


  Makes the magazine feel hedonistic and exciting
• Use of "exclusives" and exclamation mark

  Makes the magazine feel dramatic and exciting, a unique selling point
• Cover line "all the sizzle from the GQ Heroes"

  Suggests there will be sexualized content inside
• Hyperbolic language like "Westminster becoming a living nightmare"


  Makes the magazine feel dramatic and exciting
• Cover lines about how to wear a broken suit and own a belt bag


  Feels instructive, like the magazine is teaching the reader what is acceptable
• The focus is very much on appearances and the magazine is presented as an authority figure guiding the reader on style and fashion